Nine Little Hours
by MadAuntieKeith
Summary: Who knew how much could change in just nine little hours? Leico one-shot for Ace Awareness Week, featuring asexual Nico, bisexual Leo and lots of talking and bonding over heartbreak.


**Well, I said I'd do _something _for this week, didn't I? And I've been neglecting my favourite demigods for ages!**

**This isn't my best, but I wanted to give it a go- so here's a very talky friendship fic featuring asexual Nico and bisexual Leo- you'd be amazed at what can happen in just nine little hours!**

**Takes place roughly three years after BoO, and I'm sorry to say features mentions of the break-up of Caleo and Solangelo. I don't particularly have anything against those ships, but Leico is my OTP. Sorry if I sound a bit mean towards Will and Calypso in this fic, it just kinda came out that way- y'know how it is, two guys bonding over heartbreak! So yeah, warnings for a bit of bitterness or whatever. **

**(As for writing Nico's asexuality, it's pretty much based on my own experience with it- it's asexuality and not aromanticism, he kinda digs guys but gets uncomfortable with sexual advances and stuff, also not a fan of being touched without warning.)**

**Well, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Nine Little Hours<span>**

* * *

><p>Not long after his seventeenth birthday, Nico found himself lodged once again in a state of dejected heartbreak. <em>Hello darkness, my old friend.<em>

Usually he'd cope with such unpleasantness by running away, hiding in cemeteries or calling Jules-Albert the zombie chauffeur to take him to the nearest MacDonald's.

Of course, that was in the old days- the post-Bianca, pre-prophecy days. That was before he'd travelled the world, been to Hell and back (literally), and basically helped saved the world. Apparently a stunt like that makes you a lot of friends, friends who were willing- nay, _happy_- to help him out in his time of need.

That was how, in late August 2013, Nico found himself sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Hades cabin with a bag of chips in his hand and a can of Redbull at his side, his friends in a circle and the most offensive game he'd ever had the dubious pleasure of playing at his feet.

"I can't believe they were actually allowed to publish this…" he muttered, eyeing the white cards in his hands with distaste.

"_Cards Against Humanity _is a double-edged sword, my friend," Leo said sagely, proffering his own white card to Jason's black. "Infinite potential for humour, doubly-infinite potential for vulgarity!"

"Obviously," Nico said, watching as Jason read Leo's card and his face turned crimson.

Nico was losing the game so far- he was from the forties, whatever jokes he actually understood made him blush down to the soles of his shoes- and he was still getting terrible hands (or maybe he wasn't, but he was just too oblivious to realise). Jason, Piper and Annabeth weren't far ahead- to be honest this competition had long been a dead-heat between Percy and Leo. The desire to out-offend each other was strong in those two.

But as the hours wore on, people got tired. Jason and Piper slipped away first, Jason pausing to quietly ask Nico if he was okay. He was worried about him, for sure, but though Nico appreciated his concern he was never one for being coddled. So he put on a brave face, muttered an affirmative and waved them both out.

Not long after, with Annabeth dozing off on his shoulder, Percy reluctantly conceded defeat. It was only as he closed the door behind them both that he realised how much their party had dwindled. When he turned, he came face to face with an empty room. Well, almost empty.

"Another one bites the dust, huh?" Leo smirked, swigging his Redbull.

"Please," Nico snorted, flopping to the floor opposite the manic Latino. "You wouldn't have won that easily if they didn't have to get up early tomorrow."

Taking Nico completely by surprise, the loved-up couple had taken a few days away from their life in New Rome to visit (probably after Jason whined to them over Iris-message about how heartbroken Nico was). But with summer almost over and college starting up again soon, vacation time was over.

"That a challenge?" Leo asked, quirking his eyebrow and gesturing invitingly to the remaining cards. "_You _care to fight me for first place?"

"Leo, there's only two of us."

"So?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "So, how do you propose we play _Cards Against Humanity _with only two people?"

"Ah," he said, brow furrowing. "Fair point."

They sat in silence for a long, tense moment. Nico thought about suggesting that Leo make his way home now, too- they hadn't spent much time alone together in the past, after all. But Nico wasn't tired yet. He was completely hopped up on Redbull, and apparently Leo was in a similar state (if his twitching fingers and jittering leg were anything to go by). Nico didn't particularly like the idea of being alone in his cabin on a sugar-and-caffeine high. Plenty of time to think about things…

Suddenly Leo grinned. "Xbox showdown?"

Nico glanced at the wall, to the TV and gaming system he'd rigged up with the help of the brainy Hephaestus kids and the Hermes cabin's light fingers and loose morals, and smiled. "Bring it on."

* * *

><p>"Dang it, Batman, <em>stay down!"<em>

"Told you villains always lose," Nico sniggered, landing another brutal combo. The Joker was flung across the screen, crashing through the roof of Wayne Manor.

"Well, at least they do it with style," Leo muttered, desperately button-mashing. On screen, the Joker ineffectively hurled an exploding pie at Batman's face. Unfortunately, his attempts were voided as a solid kick to the head sent him crumpling to the floor. "Ah, heck," Leo grumbled.

"Ha!" Nico crowed, fist pumping the air.

"Man, you're good," Leo admitted, dropping his controller and cracking his knuckles.

"You should see Hazel play," Nico said, smiling wistfully as the screen flicked back to character selection. "She's a freaking demon."

"That, I can believe," Leo said, shuddering. He turned to Nico with a small smile, scratching his neck. "You missing her?"

"Yeah," Nico nodded, flipping through characters absentmindedly. He could really use his sister around right now. She'd know just what to say to make him feel better, at least temporarily…

"How're you doing, man?"

Nico shrugged, hastily selecting Nightwing. "Okay, I guess."

'Okay' was being pretty generous. A week ago marked his break-up with Will Solace. It couldn't have been helped, but there was no way he could look back on the way things ended with a smile.

"If it's any consolation, I get it," Leo said, selecting Flash and hitting play. "Guess I'm not too good at making relationships last, either…" he grimaced. "Hey, look on the bright side- you lasted longer than me and Calypso!"

Nico winced. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that."

"Not your fault," Leo waved him off. "It's no one's fault, really- guess it just wasn't meant to be, y'know?"

Nico nodded, but he didn't buy that Leo was completely over it for one second. The day Calypso had left Camp Half-Blood, he'd retreated into Bunker Nine and hadn't emerged for almost a week. They'd only been home a month when they split up, after a short-lived eight month relationship that lasted about as long as it took for their slow ride and sight-seeing to bring them back to Long Island. Apparently without the confines of Ogygia forcing them to coexist, they couldn't even make it to the year mark. Calypso was drunk on freedom, and Leo had wanted to return to his home and stay there. As far as anyone knew, it was a mutual break up, but Nico looked at Leo's dejected face and thought otherwise.

"You heard from her since then?"

Leo shook his head, a bitter twist to his lips. "Nah. Probably hasn't stopped moving since she left. Anyway, she's her own woman, doesn't need to check in with the ex, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess," Nico mumbled, allowing Leo to land a critical hit.

Leo offloaded a few more punches before sighing gloomily. "To be honest," he said quietly, eyes fixed on the screen. "I'm not sure she ever really lo-_liked_ me in the first place," he said, hastily checking himself mid-sentence.

Nico frowned. "Why'd you think that?"

"Well, guess she was always kinda out of my league," Leo laughed humourlessly. "I mean, I guess it threw me when the magic raft came, but it was probably just Stockholm syndrome or something, right? From being stuck with me so long."

"I think that's only for hostage situations," Nico mumbled. Leo either didn't hear or he didn't care.

"Shouldn't have expected her to stick around when she was outta there," he muttered, his voice a cocktail of resentment- but Nico thought he knew Leo well enough to know that he was probably angrier at himself than at the girl who left him.

Nico opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't find the words. What could he say, really? He barely knew Leo, he was in no position to tackle his deepest insecurities. But it bugged him, seeing Leo beating himself up like that. He may be an annoying dork, but he was actually a decent guy. He needed to stop shouldering blame for things out of his control.

"So," Leo said, loudly changing the subject. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened with Will? You guys seemed to be getting along fine, last I saw."

"Oh, y'know," Nico mumbled elusively, landing a kick to Flash's face. "Disagreed on some stuff."

"Okay…" Leo said slowly, desperately trying to scramble back to his feet under a rain of punches.

It sounded like he was prepared to just let the conversation drop.

Maybe it was the sugar, but Nico decided he actually wanted to rant a bit for once.

"He was so _bossy,_" Nico complained, mashing the buttons harder. "And he tried to fix everything, told him to give it a rest but he kept right on, it was freaking irritating. Darn healers. And that was another problem- he was so self-deprecating, always whining about how his only Apollo powers were healing hands or whatever, couldn't shut him up."

"_You _are calling _him _self-deprecating?" Leo asked incredulously, forgetting to block Nico's strikes.

"That's not the point," Nico grumbled.

Leo sniggered, but he was too busy trying to cling to life on the game to press for more info. Frankly, Nico was grateful. He didn't even want to get into the big reason. That was a topic he wasn't touching with a ten foot pole.

* * *

><p>"Man, games are getting way too complicated," Leo grouched, cautiously adjusting one of the figurines.<p>

Unsurprisingly, their grotesquely massive caffeine intake had left them both restless and fidgety. Since there was really no chance of sleep for either of them right now, they opted for more games. That was how Leo found himself being introduced to the wonderful world of _Mythomagic_.

"You're supposed to be the genius, remember?" Nico smirked.

Leo rolled his eyes, cautiously playing a new card. Nico glanced down at it, prepared to point out some glaring rule violation the mechanic had stumbled into, but when he saw the illustration his heart sank.

"Nico?" Leo asked, looking nervous. "Crap, am I doing it wrong again?"

"No, no, it's fine," Nico muttered, hastily turning his attention back to his own hand. "Good move."

Leo looked down at his card with a frown, and winced as he realised his mistake. "Ah, man, I'm sorry- didn't think…"

"S'okay," Nico said, glaring down at the illustrated face of Apollo.

Leo still looked guilty. "Hey, if you've got an Atlas card hidden away in there, you can play it," he offered graciously.

Nico allowed himself a chuckle at that. "No, it's okay. Besides, titan cards are rare- I don't have him, yet. Well, I did once, but…"

He trailed off, blushing and returning to his move. No point telling Leo about the first time he flipped out and burned his collection.

Leo nodded, not asking for more detail. He surveyed the carefully arranged cards and figures, and his warm brown eyes took on an edge of sadness. "World can be pretty unfair, huh?"

"What d'you mean?" Nico asked, not really liking the way this was going- you knew things were bad when _Leo Valdez _wasn't smiling.

"Just _us,"_ Leo says with a vague gesture. "And our situation. Kinda sucks, right?"

"Yeah," Nico agreed quietly. "Sucks."

"I mean," Leo rambled on, cards in his hand forgotten. "We're okay guys, right? Sure, you creeped the bejeezus out of me when we first met, but underneath the death glare and whatever you're a cool guy. And I get that I can be irritating, but I'm not _bad. _I say the wrong thing sometimes, but…"

He sighed wearily, turning back to the game. "I dunno, man. Just seems like we saved the world, got rid of Gaia- Hell, I even _died-_ and everyone got what they wanted except us. Not saying I want all our friends to be miserable, too, but just once it'd be nice if things worked out for us the way they do for them, you know?"

"It's not all bad," Nico said, although a familiar flicker of envy coiled in his stomach.

"No, you're right," Leo said, glancing out the window. "I mean we're alive, we've got our friends, things are great. Guess I'm just sick of seeing everyone else get the big ol' Hollywood ending."

He turned back to Nico with a wistful smile. "Be nice if we got what we wanted for once, huh?"

"Guess so," Nico murmured.

He probably should have left it there- it was late, they were both riding the tail end of a colossal caffeine high, they were both just a couple of lovesick idiots who'd most definitely regret anything personal they said in the morning.

But for some stupid reason, he quietly added: "I dunno, guess I don't know what I want anyway…"

Leo cocked his head curiously. "No?"

Nico bit his lip, watching Leo carefully for a moment. He should probably just shut up. But he'd wanted to tell someone for so long, and for some weird reason he actually trusted Leo.

So he sighed, putting his cards down and crossing his arms. Leo slowly followed suit, leaning forward expectantly.

"I've had crushes," Nico said quietly, kicking himself for starting this potentially super important conversation so clumsily. "Obviously, I mean Will was one, and you know about Percy…"

Leo nodded, looking bewildered. Most of them knew about Nico's old crush by now, after they'd overheard Percy talking to Annabeth about it (well, complaining about it- at the time he'd been both confused by the revelation, and offended that he apparently 'wasn't Nico's type'). Leo hadn't acted too surprised- after seeing the way he and Will hung around each other, he had probably just kind of figured that Nico had a thing for guys. It didn't seem to make much difference to him.

"Well," Nico continued, choosing his words carefully. "Sometimes I feel like they're… not what crushes should be? Like, what everyone else thinks they are?"

"I don't follow," Leo said with a frown.

"Right, well," Nico mumbled, cheeks flaming pink as he realised he was actually just going to have to come out with it. "Calypso- you had a crush on her, right? Before you started going out?"

"Yeah," Leo said, pouting grumpily. "But don't tell her that, it'll just go to her head."

"Sure," Nico agreed with a snort. "But you liked her, right? You wanted to…" damn, he hated being the forties kid in the twenty-first century. He had absolutely no idea how to talk about this stuff. _You are seventeen years old, man up. _"Touch her and stuff?"

All the blood in Leo's body rushed to his cheeks. "Uh, yeah?" he picked at his oil-stained nails self-consciously. "I mean, man, you should have seen her in red, she was… well, she was beautiful."

He was embarrassed. Not necessarily by the topic of conversation- he'd had absolutely no problem pointing out hot girls in the past. Maybe it was because he could feel how serious this was, how this was all building up to something and he was uncomfortable with the pressure. Still, Nico had come too far to give up now because of a little embarrassment.

"See, I liked Will," he said thoughtfully. "And Percy, they were both cute and I really looked up to them. And when I was with Will, I liked… y'know, kissing him and stuff."

Leo was starting to look like he might spontaneously combust out of awkwardness.

"But I never really wanted to go… further," he said, watching Leo carefully to gauge his reaction. "Like, I never even _thought _about them that way, you know? And sometimes when Will touched me without warning or whatever, it just really weirded me out…"

Leo's face was slowly returning to its usual hue as the red tint dissipated, his shoulders relaxing slightly in relief. Maybe he'd been scared that he was going to have to have some kind of sex talk. "Really?" he asked- not judgementally, just genuinely curious. "You never thought about it?"

Nico shook his head. "No, I just wasn't interested. And I thought maybe that would change- I mean, I was with Will for almost two years, I thought maybe the idea would grow on me but then it just… didn't."

He waited for the moment of judgement- the bit where Leo laughs, or tells him he just hasn't met the right person yet.

Instead the son of Hephaestus shrugged, picking up his cards again. "Okay."

Nico raised his eyebrow. _"Okay?"_ he mimicked sarcastically.

"Yeah," Leo said, brows scrunching as he once again tried to make sense of the figures on his cards. "Nothing wrong with that- I mean everyone's different, right? Maybe you're just not built that way. Stranger things have happened."

Nico blinked, mouth flopping open.

Leo looked back up at him, and he gave off the vibe that he already knew the answer to his next question. "That's why you and Will really broke up, isn't it?"

Nico just nodded.

"He end it with you, or…?"

Another nod.

"That sucks, man," Leo said sympathetically.

"Yeah," Nico breathed, amazed that Leo was being so understanding. "It does."

Leo picked at a loose splinter on the floor, fingers twitching like they did when he wasn't sure what to say. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Nico said quietly.

They sat in silence for a moment, somewhat less tense than it had been at the start of the night.

Finally, Leo looked up to him with his usual impish grin in place.

"Well, it's his loss!" he said brightly, reaching for another Redbull. "Mark my words; in a few years he'll be beating himself up!"

"Yeah, right," Nico snorted sceptically, reaching out to take the can being offered to him.

Okay, so nothing had been solved and he was still confused as heck. But bizarrely enough, he actually felt a little better.

* * *

><p>The hands on the clock had rolled past four a.m, and finally they'd called it quits on the games. Unfortunately there was no way Leo was going to sneak back to his cabin before morning without getting eaten by harpies, so that left them a few hours perched side by side on Nico's bed to finish off the snack supply.<p>

"What the heck are these?" Nico asked, waving an unfamiliar bag of chips in Leo's face.

"Only my number one addiction," Leo grinned, snatching the bag and breaking it open. "_Fonzies- _bought these babies back in Rome!"

"What, when we were there for the quest?"

"Uh-huh!" Leo said around a mouthful of chips.

"…Leo, that was three years ago."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Huh. Boy, these babies keep well- they're not even stale!"

Nico gaped at him as he crammed another handful in his mouth. "Sooooooo, you're just gonna keep eating them?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "Well I can't exactly just pop to Rome for a fresh supply, can I?"

"Fine, just don't come crying to me when you get food poisoning," Nico grumbled, opening his fourth pack of Redvines.

"C'mon, they're just deep-fried potatoes!" Leo laughed. "How bad can it be?"

Nico raised his eyebrow. "I'm going to remember you said that."

"You want that in writing while you're at it?" Leo offered dryly.

"Go ahead," Nico chuckled. "Then I have something to rub in your face when you puke up your guts tomorrow morning!"

"Okay, you asked for it!" Leo laughed, plucking a pen from his tool belt. He reached out, his hand hesitating a few inches from Nico's arm. It was a small gesture but it made Nico's heart warm- Leo really had been listening earlier. He nodded his assent and Leo took his wrist, turning it up and broadly scrawling 'I, Leo Valdez, hereby swear that I shall not puke on Nico's shoes'. Nico was surprised to find that he actually didn't mind it when Leo touched him.

"Hey, Leo…" he said tentatively as the mechanic capped the pen with a flourish.

"Yeah?"

"Feel free not to answer this, but…" Nico cocked his head, pulling his knees up and hugging them to his chest. "How many crushes have _you _had?"

Leo snorted. "Heck, man, I don't think I can even remember them all!"

Nico smiled, resting his chin on his arms. "Who was your first one?"

Leo shrugged, but Nico didn't think it was his imagination that he saw his defences go up. "Dunno. Probably one of the girls I lived with in my first foster home. Who was yours?"

Nico chewed his lip. "Percy."

Leo looked back at him, face sympathetic. "How old were you?"

"Twelve," Nico answered glumly.

Leo nodded slowly, considering. "Yeah. Guess I was about the same, when…"

He sighed, ruffling his already dishevelled hair restlessly. "It was at my foster home," he said. "But not my first. I don't know, maybe my third? And there was this... this one person."

He went silent. After a moment, Nico gently prodded. "What was her name?"

Leo looked down at his hands, crinkling the foil of the _Fonzies _packet. "_His _name was Danny."

Nico whipped his head round to stare at him, wide-eyed. "Oh. _Oh._"

Leo brandished a finger at him sternly. "_None _of this leaves this room, got it?"

The son of Hades raised his own hand, tracing a clumsy 'x' over his heart in agreement. Leo nodded, satisfied, and leaned his head back against the wall with a dull _thump._

"Yeah," he breathed out, something like confusion mixed with relief colouring his voice. "Don't know what it was about that guy. He was a tool- and not the good kind that fixes stuff. More like the kind that calls you names, pushes you around and generally treats you like crap. But there was just _something, _y'know? I didn't even know what a crush _was, _but I knew I had one. Not long after that, I ran away. Couldn't get out of there fast enough."

He turned his head to Nico with a small smile. "Guess I always fall for the ones that are bad for me, huh?"

"Guess so," Nico murmured. "So, you ever liked another guy after…?"

"Nah," Leo said, a little too quickly.

Nico raised his eyebrow.

Apparently that was enough. "Jeez, okay," Leo grumbled, snapping a chip in half grumpily. "One or two. Nothing major, just little crushes. Not even crushes, just… I don't know."

He sighed heavily, dropping the bag at his side. "I don't know, man, it's confusing. I just prefer not to think about it."

Nico was tempted to just let it go. He was the last person anyone should be coming to for advice on dating or sexuality- Hades, he's not sure he even _has _the latter- or emotional issues of any kind.

But a look at Leo's face told him that this was a closely guarded secret, possibly something he'd never told anyone. Maybe Piper (heck, she'd probably worked it out on her own, dang Aphrodite love powers), or maybe mentioned it once to Jason. But obviously this was something he kept close to his chest, and for some reason he'd laid it out in front of him. Nico couldn't decide if he wanted to be shocked or flattered that Leo would trust him so much.

And so, Nico attempted something he'd only tried a handful of times over the last five years.

He tried to be comforting.

"Hey, maybe it doesn't have to be so confusing," he said, hand hovering a moment as he deliberated on whether or not to raise it and pat Leo's shoulder. He decided against it. "I mean, there are people who like more than one kind of person, right? I thought there was a new-fangled word for it- bi-something?"

"Bisexual," Leo said, giggling. "Jeez, did you actually just use the term 'new-fangled' in conversation?"

Nico blushed. "Shut up."

"Y'know, sometimes I forget you're from the forties, then you say something like that and it just hits me like a freight train," Leo grinned, punching Nico's shoulder playfully.

Nico swatted his hand away, but found a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth anyway. Whatever he said, it looked like it actually worked- Leo was smiling again, at least.

And there may be a lot of things he found irritating about Leo- his bad puns, his loud (not to mention constant) eating, his inability to take anything seriously- but his smile was definitely not one of them.

* * *

><p>Morning broke over Camp Half-Blood, the rising sun glowing on the strawberry fields and glittering on the obsidian walls of the Hades cabin.<p>

Inside the cabin Leo stood up, brushing the crumbs of his third bag of _Fonzies _off his jeans. They must have reached a transcendental caffeine high, because they hadn't slept the entire night. Strangely, though, the nine hours between their friends leaving and the sun rising had been anything but boring.

Nico stood too, stretching his arms and straightening out the crick in his back from leaning against the wall all night. The floor was a mess of wrappers and empty cans- dang, he had a lot to clear away before inspection.

Fortunately, Leo was on the same page. He whipped a trash bag from his tool belt, stooping over to sweep in the debris. Nico joined him in his efforts, scraping the cans into another bag for recycling (or for Hedge and the satyrs to eat, depending on who got there first). With both of them on the job, the mess was gone in minutes.

With the bags piled outside the door for collection and the floor swept clean of crumbs, all that remained were the games. Nico slid the _Mythomagic_ figurines back into their case while Leo scooped their abandoned game of _Cards Against Humanity _into the box.

Soon the cabin was clear, the figures hidden away and the box of offensive cards tucked under Leo's arm. They found themselves facing each other across an empty room, and Nico suddenly felt like he had too many hands and no idea what to do with them. He settled for shoving them in his pockets.

"So," he said awkwardly.

"So," Leo echoed with a breathy laugh, shifting his feet. "S'pose I should go get changed before breakfast- be pretty weird if I showed up in the same clothes as yesterday, huh?"

"Like you haven't done that before," Nico laughed. He shrugged, offering an uneasy smile. "Thanks for sticking around, I guess."

"Hey, no problem, man," Leo said, sounding genuine. "I had fun."

Nico nodded, hoping his bewilderment didn't show on his face- he'd been called a lot of things, but 'fun' wasn't on the list. What was even weirder was that he could honestly say that he'd had fun, too. Maybe he and Leo weren't as different as they'd thought. "Leo," he said.

Leo paused in his stride to the door, turning to face him. "Yeah?"

Nico shifted his feet self-consciously. "It sucks that Calypso left, and I miss Will, but…" he shrugged bashfully, chewing his lip. "I'm glad we're friends, now. You're actually a lot less annoying than I thought."

"Thanks," Leo snorted. But he smiled, his tense shoulders relaxing. "Same to you. Guess we didn't come out of this thing totally empty-handed, huh?"

Nico grinned, nodding in agreement.

Leo made to leave, but his hand hesitated on the knob. "Hey, Di Angelo?"

"Yeah?"

Leo's restless fingers tapped on the handle, his eyes following them. "You shouldn't feel bad. About Will. I mean, I'm not saying you should get over him right away 'cause I know that's hard, but… you shouldn't feel bad about why he left."

He looked back up at Nico with a smile. "I mean, if he can't take you as you are, then that's his problem, right?"

"Is it?" Nico asked sullenly, hands digging deeper into his pockets.

"Dang right, it is," Leo insisted, warm brown eyes meeting Nico's across the room. "Trust me, that's not the kind of guy you want in your life. One day you'll find someone who just wants you for you and doesn't care about the extras."

Nico frowned. "You really think so?"

"Yeah," Leo said earnestly. "I mean, you know me- 'Repair Boy Extraordinaire'- I make it my business to get the broken parts moving. But I draw the line at fixing things that don't need fixing."

His hand left the knob, running shyly through his messy curls. "All I'm saying is, don't let anyone make you feel like you're broken, 'kay? 'Cause I've met my fair share of broken people, and I'm telling you right now that you're not one of them. You're just you and that's cool, so just keep being you, yeah? Anyone who doesn't agree can piss right off."

Nico felt like he couldn't move his feet if he tried. After a few moments he got his dry tongue in check for long enough to rasp out another cynical response. "I don't know, man, seems like kind of a tall order- you really think anyone could look past… this? I mean, could _you_?"

"It's not about me," Leo smiled, turning the handle and opening the door a crack. Soft morning sunlight streamed through the gap, glistening in his eyes the colour of rich earth. Leo made to leave, but faltered. "But yeah, I could."

Nico stared right at him, disbelief etched in his features. "Seriously?"

Leo met his gaze steadily, leaning against the doorframe. "Nico, I've been around a bit longer than you-"

"Literally only nineteen months, but go on," Nico chimed in, smirking at Leo's withering look.

"But I've learned a thing or two in my life," he said. "Mostly the hard way, and mostly over the last three years to be honest, but I probably would have wasted a lot less of my life chasing girls who made me miserable if someone had told me this sooner."

Nico waited patiently, his breath rushing out as he realised he'd been holding it.

"I think a thing like that- the real thing, the one that makes you happy and is worth holding onto- is something you can't go looking for," he shrugged, tilting his head towards the light. "I think sometimes you just have to live your life, just go on everyday as normal and not hold your breath for the Hollywood ending. When these things happen, they just happen. Sometimes…" he trailed off, his tan cheeks flushed darker. "Sometimes when you least expect them to."

He glanced back at Nico, and with an awkward wave and an impish grin he disappeared into the light, the door clicking shut behind him.

Nico was alone again, a solitary figure in the glow from the window. His mind raced with Leo's words, everything that had happened over the last nine hours suddenly clamouring for attention. Just nine little hours to have him wondering if he truly deserved everything that had happened, or if maybe, just maybe he was worth more than that. To have him questioning everything he thought he knew about himself, everything he thought he'd known about Leo Valdez.

And as his hands traced the words on his arm, the scribbled promise that Leo had kept without a fault, he knew he couldn't suppress the grin on his face even if he wanted to.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there it is!<strong>

**Sorry if it's not my best- kinda rusty at writing the boys, I'm afraid!**

**I can't guarantee that I'm gonna get back to writing loads of Leico like I used to, but I might start uploading the odd one-shot here and there if I get ideas. Still pretty focused on In The Flesh, though.**

**Well, thanks for reading!**


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